Town of Stony Plain seeks input on new environment plan

Article content

The Town of Stony Plain is enduring through the COVID-19 crisis and is now turning some of its attention back to the earlier issue of weather.

Before the virus brought havoc to the community, Canada and the world many residents of the region were seeing high amounts of rain and related pain from the unprecedented moisture. There were floods, approval for provincial disaster relief and experts recently warned more storms are likely in the future due to climate change, a point the the present provincial government has admitted is being aided by mankind.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser.

Town of Stony Plain seeks input on new environment plan Back to video

Now the Town wants to hear from residents about how they should manage this issue and its related concerns in the future.

According to a press release distributed Friday there is an environmental awareness survey up on the Town website. Residents are urged to fill it out before the Nov. 30 deadline and information from the poll will then be used for a new environmental management plan.

Article content continued

“This can be thought of as a compass for environmental management in Stony Plain,” Chelseay Rudolph, Town sustainability planner said in a statement. “The idea is to establish a united framework to improve environmental progress and also to plan future sustainability initiatives.”

Questions in the form ask users what has the biggest impact on their life in a list that includes air quality, water quality and quantity and energy systems as well as asking what the Town can do to help one reduce their environmental impact. Officials have been looking at how to be greener for some time and in 2018 were even told by visitors that more could done for deeper resident engagement with the issue.

“The Town has not done very much about climate change in a while,” John Latimer of the Northern Climate Stewardship and Sustainability Society told councillors at the time. “Now we are looking to see if we can get it going again. [The last plan milestone], they started it in 2006.”

Movement is happening now and Mayor William Choy added it will increase as the town continues to develop.

“As a growing municipality we are always on the lookout for ways to reduce our environmental footprint,” he said. “Developing and incorporating sustainable practices better prepares Stony Plain for a future of responsible growth. Hearing from our residents is an important step in any planning process and I encourage everyone to take five or 10 minutes out of their day [to do the survey and] get involved.”

epretzer@postmedia.com

twitter.com/EvanJPretzer